If you could only do ONE thing for your author business this week, what would it be?
In April of 2019, my business coach Britt Seva posted a podcast episode reviewing a book. Within a week, everyone in her community was talking about it.
The book was The ONE Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan, and unbeknownst to me, my life was about to change.
At the time, I was a solopreneur juggling my salon’s operations, marketing, finances, and working with clients – all while recovering from a major surgery and the lingering effects of a brain injury (that’s a story for another time.) Oh, and did I mention my grandma had stage four ovarian cancer? To say I was overwhelmed would be putting it lightly.
The ONE Thing taught me how to release the fear of chaos and focus on the things that matter most.
Among dozens of other valuable lessons, it taught me to ask myself what they call “The Focusing Question”: What is the ONE thing, that I CAN do, such that by doing it, everything else would be easier or unnecessary?
Let’s break this down:
The ONE Thing
You can only do one thing at a time. Of all of the things you could or should do, choose just one.
“But I need to do so many things!” Choose one. “But I really have to do two!” Start with one.
That I CAN Do
This is where the “should” can get you. “I SHOULD be posting to social media every day. I SHOULD spend an hour a day working on my next book.” This kind of thinking does more harm than good.
“Should” doesn’t matter. All that matters is what you CAN do. Break your task into a perfectly bite sized piece – a piece so small you know you can do it. Can’t post to social every day? Post three times a week. Can’t manage three times a week? Try once a week. Don’t have an hour to focus on your next book every day? Try half an hour. Don’t have half an hour? Do fifteen minutes. Do five. Just be consistent.
Such That By Doing it, Everything Else would be Easier or Unnecessary.
Do not skip this part of the question.
Let’s use the social media example:
What can I do to improve my social media marketing? Post consistently. What makes posting consistently to social media easier? Planning it in advance. What makes planning easier? Use a spreadsheet.
Your one thing is to open a spreadsheet and start organizing your content ideas.
Now the writing example. These are the exact questions I asked myself last month:
What is the one thing I can do for my writing business? Publish good books. What is the one thing I can do to publish good books? Write every day. What makes writing every day easier? Write first thing in the morning.
My one thing is to write first thing in the morning, right after I feed the pets, even if it’s only for five minutes.
ACTION STEPS:
Now it’s your turn.
Really ask yourself the question: What is the one thing that I can do, such that by doing it everything else would be easier or unnecessary?
Walk yourself through this process in your journal, or post a public comment on this post.
To learn more about The ONE Thing, visit their website: (Not an affiliate, just an evangelist a fan.)